LOS ANGELES >> Something wasn’t right about Andre James. The usual joy in his gray eyes was gone, clouded by worry as he floated through walk-throughs during a training camp practice last month.

His body lined up at right tackle in the shadow of UCLA’s new Wasserman Football Center, but his mind was in a hospital room in Utah where Marcus James had agonized how exactly he would tell his son.

It’s one thing to be told you have cancer. It’s another to tell your family you have it.

“It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever gone through,” Marcus said of making the phone call to his son just minutes before Andre walked onto the field for a training camp practice in mid-August.

The news didn’t sink in until that night when Andre tossed and turned in his bed in the Luskin Conference Center. The redshirt sophomore couldn’t sleep. He thought about his dad passing away from the aggressive form of testicular cancer that already spread to parts of his brain. Then he remembered who the disease was dealing with.

Fight

Marcus couldn’t lift the front of his right foot, so the healthy Crossfit gym owner went to get it checked out. It was probably nothing, he thought.

Two days after he walked into the hospital, his whole right side was paralyzed. One of four tumors in his brain was pushing on the nerves controlling his motor skills, robbing him of the ability to walk.

He was quickly admitted to surgery once doctors discovered the cancer. He’s gone through three rounds of chemotherapy since his diagnosis in August and has two more five-day rounds to go. He starts his fourth Saturday, the same day the Bruins host Colorado at 7:30 p.m., and he’s confident he’ll make a full recovery after chemotherapy and radiation.

Andre desperately wants to be with his dad, but is limited to daily FaceTime sessions. While Marcus fights in Utah, he wants his son to fight for the Bruins in Westwood.

“He’s got responsibilities that he’s got to deal with and I’m going to be fine,” Marcus said. “This is just going to be something in our past that we’ll look back on as something we got through.”

Through their daily conversations, Andre watched his dad waste away during the past month. Marcus dropped from a chiseled 230 pounds to 185 in just three weeks. The body he so carefully sculpted for decades was suddenly gone.

He went to physical therapy, looked in the mirror, told his body to move and it didn’t respond. The man who lifted weights every day of his life since 15 and passed his genes and strength to his 6-foot-4, 310-pound son could barely do a bodyweight squat.

“It’s humbling,” said Marcus, who is back to 205 pounds and can walk without a cane. “From being the strongest guy to not being able do body-weight stuff, it makes you think.”

‘Use it as motivation’

Andre was on a knee between reps. When Caleb Wilson asked what was wrong that day at training camp, the gregarious tight end was expecting to hear that the offensive lineman was just weary from the daily grind.

His dad had cancer, Andre said. Wilson, lost for words momentarily, offered whatever support he could.

“I got your back,” Wilson said. Andre thanked him. The offensive lineman stood up, wiped the sweat from his face and took the next rep.

Andre has started all four of UCLA’s games this season at right tackle and has 11 consecutive starts dating to last season. His position versatility makes him a key cog on the offensive line that has allowed only two sacks in the past two games (116 pass attempts).

“I honestly don’t know how he does it,” Wilson said of how Andre persists.

Wilson was the first teammate to hear the news, and Andre has thrived off the support from his teammates and coaches. He shared a GoFundMe page headed by a family friend to cover Marcus’ medical expenses and it collected nearly $15,000. Seeing his dad steadily improve makes it easier to take the field every day as UCLA is trying to climb back from last year’s disappointing season.

“When I’m out on the football field, I just try to clear my head of everything and go out there and play,” Andre said. “I just try to keep it in the back of my head, just use it as motivation.”

Marcus has been Andre’s motivation for years when they had lifting competitions at Marcus’ West Jordan gym, about 15 miles south of Salt Lake City. Marcus always won until Andre’s senior year of high school, when he had grown into a four-star recruit with offers from Ohio State, USC and Oregon. Andre snatched 250 pounds. Marcus banged his head on the bar on the attempt.

“It was a big moment, passing the crown to your son,” Marcus remembers with a laugh. “It’s something you’re so proud of and something you’re not ready to do.”

They’re each other’s best friends. Andre can’t wait to see his dad next week during UCLA’s bye. Marcus misses Saturdays at the Rose Bowl.

For now, Marcus is limited to a TV mounted on the wall of his hospital room. He put on his UCLA T-shirt and cap for the team’s season opener Sept. 3 and watched the Bruins pull off the biggest upset in school history. Andre dedicated his performance to his dad.

Almost a month later, the memory still brings father and son to tears.

“That was the most emotional thing I’ve ever been through in my life,” Marcus said, his voice catching.

Andre posted a photo of his dad watching the game three days after the win. Marcus, whose gaunt frame was nearly swimming in his now-oversized white UCLA T-shirt, had his arm wrapped about his daughter Jacey’s shoulders. Jacey, 17, hugged Marcus around the waist. Their mouths agape with joy and awe, the pair looked up at the TV above their heads showing the final 45-44 score.

“I play for things like this,” Andre wrote in the caption.

“That made me so happy,” Andre said, pausing to wipe tears from his eyes. “That was a beautiful picture.”

Thuc Nhi Nguyen has covered UCLA for the Southern California News Group since 2016. A proud Seattle native, she majored in journalism and mathematics at the University of Washington. She likes graphs, animated GIFs and superheroes.

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